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Sprinkler Valve problem

Hey everybody,

I'm looking for some assistance on trouble shooting my irrigation issue that I haven't been able to figure out. The problem I've been having is with my electric valves are not allowing my sprinklers to start flowing water unless I leave the bleeder screw open almost all the way out. Anyone know why I'm having this problem and could help me fix it, I would appreciate it?

Are your valves Irritrol? They redesigned the bleeder screws a few years ago and now a lot of the valves wont work unless you unscrew the bleeder screw almost all the way out. Sometimes they do have to be taken all the way out on brand new valves. I complained to Toro about three years ago and they sent me a bag of the old bleeder screws and an Irritrol hat. They never fixed the problem with the new screws. It's aggravating.

If it's not a wiring or controller issue I'd look at bad diaphragms. Check the common wire.

Yes that's one of the model valves that have the problem with the new screw. I don't know how old your valves are or exactly when the new screws arrived on the scene.
I am very familiar with that valve though and valves with date codes of the year 00 have a problem with a port being located in the wrong place and the diaphragm covers the hole. I was having to warranty fairly new valves because of it. Drilling the port out lower inside the valve cured the problem.
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There's a good chance with the valve in question that you could simply install new diaphragms. Again as Central suggested. Check the wiring and controller first.
That's a 205 valve and they're very reliable and fairly simple to rebuild.

That would defeat the point of having a bleed screw. The only way a bleed screw can function is to release water from the top side of the diaphragm, causing the leak you refer to. Without that leak, the diaphragm can't open.

Most of today's valves use an internal bleed mechanism as part of the selonoid assembly, which allows a valve to be manually opened without leaking into the valve box. I can't recall with certainty if your selonoid is capable of internal bleeding without causing some leaking. Most of the original richdel valves (which is what your valve is) did not have a retainer clip in the selonoid, which meant the selonoid needed to be completely removed in order to be manually operated. A process that is frustrating for us pros as well.

If I'm not mistaken, the original bleed screw had a notch cut out of the threads that allowed the water to weep without having to completely remove the screw. I don't know if its interchangeable, but the bleed screw from an Irritrol 2400 may work in its place. Perhaps someone could chime in on the interchangeability.